Israel has unleashed another wave of air strikes across the Gaza Strip and Hamas fired more rockets as expectations rise that a ceasefire could be reached.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pushed back against calls from the US to wind down the Gaza offensive, appearing determined to inflict maximum damage on Hamas in a war that could help save his political career.
But officials close to the negotiations say they expect a truce to be announced in the next 24 hours.
In another possible sign of progress, Mr Netanyahu scheduled a meeting later on Thursday with his Security Cabinet, where the issue of a ceasefire is likely to be debated.
Explosions shook Gaza City and orange flares lit up the pre-dawn sky, with bombing raids also reported in the central town of Deir al-Balah and the southern town of Khan Younis.
As the sun rose, residents surveyed the rubble from at least five family homes destroyed in Khan Younis. There were also heavy air strikes on a commercial thoroughfare in Gaza City.
The Israeli military said it struck at least three homes of Hamas commanders in Khan Younis and another in Rafah, targeting “military infrastructure” as well as a weapons storage unit at a home in Gaza City.
With hundreds already killed in the worst fighting since Israel and Hamas’ 2014 war, US President Joe Biden told Israel that he expected “a significant de-escalation today on the path to a ceasefire” – but Mr Netanyahu pushed back, saying he was “determined to continue this operation until its aim is met”.
It marked the first public rift between the two close allies since the fighting began and poses a difficult test of the US-Israel relationship early in Mr Biden’s presidency.
Still, an Egyptian intelligence official said a ceasefire is likely late on Thursday or early Friday, after the US appeal bolstered Cairo’s own efforts to halt the fighting.
Khalid Okasha, director of the Egyptian Centre for Strategic Studies, which has close ties to the government, also said a ceasefire was likely in that timeframe, as did Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official.
Visiting the region, German foreign minister Heiko Maas said Israel has “the right to defend itself against such unacceptable attacks”. But he also expressed concern about the rising number of civilian victims and voiced support for truce efforts.
United Nations Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland was in the Gulf state of Qatar to help press forward with efforts to restore calm, a diplomatic official said.
Energy-rich Qatar often helps mediate between Israel and Hamas and has donated hundreds of millions of dollars for development and humanitarian projects in Gaza in recent years to help maintain calm.
In New York, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged for an immediate ceasefire, speaking at the start of a UN General Assembly emergency meeting. He called on Israel and Hamas “to allow for mediation efforts to intensify in order to bring the fighting to an end”.
